Welcome to Collaborative Professionals WA

Collaborative practice is a dispute resolution process designed to assist you to stay in control of your own decisions and out of court.

In collaborative practice you, your former partner, your respective lawyers and other professionals make a commitment to work together towards an agreement using a cooperative problem solving approach.

Collaborative practice is suitable for the resolution of both financial and parenting issues arising from separation and divorce, as the process focuses on the needs of both parties and their children, where children are involved.

You, your former partner, your respective lawyers and the other professionals will enter into a Participation Agreement setting out the ground rules for the collaborative process. The Agreement is based on both participants agreeing not to commence court proceedings or threatening to do so. If this happens, both collaborative lawyers will be disqualified from representing either participant. The majority of negotiations will take place at "4-way" face-to-face meetings between you, your former partner, the lawyers and the other professionals. These negotiations occur in a supportive environment where open information exchange is key to success.

Correspondence between lawyers is kept to a minimum. By being present throughout the collaborative meetings, you and your former partner retain control of the process, the scope for misunderstandings is reduced and you will be assisted in communicating with each other in an inclusive way, which is focussed on the future.

As part of the collaborative process, you are encouraged to enlist other experts such as child development specialists, financial advisors, tax accountants and communication coaches to provide information and advice, where appropriate and helpful.

Collaborative professionals are trained to utilise skills in client representation, negotiation and problem solving to help you shape and outcome that works for you and your family